IT partners release crisis response service

IBM, Cisco managed service offers interoperability

IBM and Cisco have announced a new one-stop service designed to help businesses and government agencies respond to and recover from disasters, the companies said.

The new managed service, available in early April, is aimed at emergency responders, other government agencies, and large businesses in the energy, financial services and other fields, IBM said.

Interoperability among public emergency response agencies has been a major issue since the threat of terrorist attack has been raised higher up the corporate agenda. Police and fire agencies responding to the attacks have found difficulties in communicating with each other because their radios operated on different frequencies.

The service, called IBM Management Services for Crisis Response, will focus on a variety of services, including continuity of operations, network operability and recovery, internet protocol (IP) based communications, incident management and others.

The service will be based on commercial software and hardware from Cisco and other vendors, IBM said. It offers advantages over piecemeal packages that large organizations have to integrate, said Russ Lindburg, IBM's director of continuity and resilience services.

"There's at lot of point services out there that can address facets of what we're trying to do for emergency crisis response," he said. "This is an end-to-end managed service."

Customers can choose a variety of components such as a tactical communications kit – a suitcase-sized kit designed for quickly deployed IP-networks – and a so-called ‘fog-cutter’ device, which is a service-rack-sized module that can deliver voice, data and video interoperability. Customers can also choose from two network emergency response vehicles including one for providing medium-scale network and information services and a larger truck that delivers large-scale network and information services.

IBM will also offer consulting and disaster recovery planning, Lindburg said. The managed service "makes it sort of future-proof," he said. "Instead of a client having to go in and make a sizable investment in equipment, this is sold as a service. If the technology changes over time, we can update it on behalf of the client."

The service will use Wi-Fi, satellite and WAN networks to deliver Internet connectivity, Lindburg said.

The service is designed to help businesses and government agencies "sufficiently respond to the rising threat level across the globe," Lindburg said. It is also designed to help those organisations recover from natural disasters, from terrorist attacks, from sabotage and other problems, IBM said.